


Deus Ex Machina

by Blizzard96



Category: The Boyz (Korea Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Science Fiction, Gen, Genre Parody
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-14
Updated: 2021-02-28
Packaged: 2021-03-15 16:22:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,246
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29438940
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Blizzard96/pseuds/Blizzard96
Summary: At Grimm, Stories of all genres and qualities come to life. Follow Grimm's hardworking employees as they fill plot holes, adjust settings and try their best to stop characters from becoming a little too self aware (with limited success).
Kudos: 13





	1. Plot Holes

Jaehyun glanced down at his clipboard and then back up to the scene currently playing out in front of him through the large glass window of the Story Simulation room. He frowned back down at the clipboard again, double checking the room number (R128) to see the neatly typed genre for the room listed as Romance/Comedy. He stared harder at the paper as if the intensity of his gaze might force the letters to rearrange themselves before his eyes to make the scene in front of him make sense. When they failed to do so, he sighed in defeat.

He turned and reached for the walkie talkie on his belt, only to see a familiar head of faded orange colored hair racing down the corridor on the other side of the hallway. Perfect, that was exactly who he was looking for.

“Changmin!” he called. The other man skidded to a halt and nearly tripped over his own feet as he was interrupted mid-stride.

“Yeah, boss?” he asked. He bounced in place a bit, eyes darting around the hallway nervously. The cloth bag slung over his shoulder was packed close to bursting with glass canisters full of brightly colored liquids in a variety of hues. “Sorry, I’m kind of in a hurry right now.”

“This won’t take long,” Jaehyun said. “Come over here.”

Changmin bit his lip, but scuttled down the hallway to Jaehyun’s side. “What’s wrong?”

“You were assigned this Story, correct?” Jaehyun asked, gesturing to Room R128.

“Uh, yes, sir,” Changmin said, unlatching his own clipboard up from where it was attached to his side by a wire that retracted to his belt. “Room R128, had a delivery of Meet Cute earlier.”

“Meet Cute,” Jaehyun echoed. “Then what, pray tell, is this?” He pulled an empty canister identical to the ones in Changmin’s bag out from a tube that connected the corridor to the simulator. The lettering on the side of the canister proclaimed in bold, black letters the word ‘Tension’.

Changmin abruptly paled. “That’s… That’s…”  
“I can _see_ what it is,” Jaehyun said, “You delivered a bottle of Tension to the Romantic Comedy! Look at it!” He pointed to the scene unfolding inside. It was originally intended to be a fairly uneventful first meeting scene between the two romantic leads where the male lead strikes up a fun, flirty conversation with the female lead. Now, instead of a cute romantic moment, the male lead was watching the female lead from afar with a distinctly unsettling gaze.

“Oh god,” Changmin said, clipboard falling from his fingers. The wire retracted the board to his belt where it re-latched itself automatically.

“Oh god is right,” Jaehyun snapped, “What is this?! Is he a stalker?!” The male lead was pulling out his phone, and Jaehyun prayed to whatever higher power was listening that the man wouldn’t start snapping creepy photos and become a character so far gone that they couldn’t save the Story. Thankfully the character just appeared to be scrolling through it.

“I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to-!” Changmin babbled.

“Just get in there and fix it!” He opened the door to the Simulation room and shoved Changmin through before closing it behind him. Jaehyun rubbed his temples. He definitely didn’t get paid enough for this.

After a few seconds of using all the deep breathing exercises that his therapist recommended, Jaehyun pulled the walkie talkie off his belt and radioed Sangyeon, who he knew was supposed to be in the Horror department that morning.

“Sangyeon, you got a minute?” Jaehyun called. There was a beat of silence before the walkie talkie crackled in response.

“Jaehyun?” came Sangyeon’s tinny voice, “Sorry I’m having a bit of an issue right now with one of the-”

“Did someone slip a Meet Cute into one of your Stories?” Jaehyun interrupted.

“How’d you know?”

“Changmin accidentally dumped some tension into a RomCom. He’s fixing it now, but I could imagine where that canister was likely supposed to go.”

Sangyeon laughed. “I guess that explains why I have a Story with a Final Girl going on a date with the alien monster that just ate half her crew.”

“God, I’m sorry,” Jaehyun muttered, rubbing a hand down his face.

“Don’t worry about it!” Sangyeon said, “I already have a junior fixing it. Guts will be flying in no time!”

Jaehyun sighed.

“Don’t go too hard on Changmin, okay? We both messed up a lot when we were starting out too,” Sangyeon said.

Jaehyun huffed, “I know.”

“Remember that time you accidentally put the Sci-Fi storyline into a simulator in the Fantasy department? Research and Development had a hell of a time trying to figure out how the wizards created laser guns,” Sangyeon laughed.

“Don’t remind me,” Jaehyun groaned, even though he could feel the corners of his lips twitching upward, “I almost lost my job!”

“We all make mistakes,” Sangyeon said.

“Yeah, yeah,” Jaehyun said, “Don’t worry, I won’t fire him.”

“Good. Now, I think Younghoon was having issues with a dystopian plot in the YA section. He said it keeps devolving into a love triangle.”

“I’m on my way,” Jaehyun said. He clipped his walkie talkie back to his belt and set off down the labyrinth of corridors that led deeper into the facility.

* * *

Changmin had always loved Stories growing up. He’d been a voracious reader as a child, and he’d always proclaimed that he wanted to be a Story Writer when the teacher asked about his future job aspirations. The teacher would then ruffle his hair and tell him he would need to work hard to become one. Even as a child Changmin knew that becoming a Writer would be difficult, but he didn’t realize just how much work he’d have to put in until he finished college.

It turned out that Story Writers didn’t just apply to the Grimm facility that Stories came from and start cranking out novels. They had to go through a rigorous vetting process, including a written exam to gauge their knowledge of Story history and the various genres along with a practical exam of trying to organize the placement of all the elements of a Classic in a Story Simulation room. After that they would have to endure at least five years of working as a runner at Grimm preparing the works of actual Writers who had already passed their own trial.

And if he managed to do all that then, and only if he was lucky, would Changmin finally be able to sit down and write his own Stories. He dreamed of the day he could finally be allowed put words to paper and write something that he hoped other people would be able to enjoy in the same way that he had been inspired by Stories growing up. Despite his ambitions, Changmin still felt like he was only able to hang onto his dream by a thread.

He’d been working at Grimm as a runner for only two months and he was _still_ messing his orders up. If he made too big of a mess they’d probably fire him on the spot. He was grateful that his supervisor, Jaehyun, was fairly relaxed at least. Changmin had heard horror stories of other runners being cut from the company after only a month of work for a relatively minor mistake. He had nightmares about being fired one day, all his hard work crumbling to nothing. He had no idea what he would do if he couldn’t become a Writer. This _had_ to work out.

With that thought in mind, Changmin looked around the Simulation he was in for Room R128. He’d only briefly skimmed the synopsis earlier when he’d taken the canister of what he’d thought to be Meet Cute to the room. The Story itself was fairly boring, or he guessed ‘safe’ would be the best word. Man meets woman, they have a few cute dates, they deal with the woman’s old ex and then after a few arguments and make ups, they get married and live happily ever after. Nothing too unusual.

By the time Changmin entered the room, the scene had shifted to the male lead sitting at the bar by himself. The female lead was nowhere in sight, so Changmin reasoned this was probably one of the more introspective scenes. He was pretty sure the male lead was supposed to be texting his friend about the beautiful woman from earlier in this scene, but instead the man was thumbing through the woman’s social media page with a disturbing sort of intensity. He was holding the phone screen way too close to his face, and the bright light of the screen only seemed to highlight the slightly maniacal glint in his eyes. An untouched glass of whiskey sat by his right hand.

Changmin shuddered, but squared his shoulders and walked toward the male lead. He slid onto the bar stool next to the man as obviously as he could, but the other didn’t even blink in acknowledgement. This called for the drastic measures. Changmin reached into a pouch on his belt labeled ‘Convenient Plot Device’ and pulled out a vial of shimmering white powder. He tapped it over the man’s whiskey to get a few granules into the drink right before the man absentmindedly reached for it to take a sip before putting the vial back in the pouch.

The man abruptly choked on the liquid and coughed, dropping his phone onto the counter. The screen shut off upon impact. Changmin patted the man on the back as he coughed to clear his throat.

“You okay there, friend?” Changmin asked.

The man let out a final hack before turning to look at Changmin. His eyes clouded for a moment before refocusing. “Who are you?” he asked.

“It’s me, your friend,” Changmin said convincingly, “Remember? Changmin? From college?”

He frowned slightly before his expression smoothed out. “Oh right! Changmin! It’s been a while.”

“I know,” he snuck a glance at his clipboard for the man’s name, “Woobin. We should call more.”

“We should,” the man said, smiling. “I missed talking.”

“So, anything happening in your life lately since graduation?” Changmin said casually.

The man sighed. “Not really. Same old, same old at work. My boss and coworkers are fine, but the overtime’s been killing me.”

Changmin hummed noncommittally. “Sorry to hear that.”

Woobin shrugged. “What can you do?”

“Anything else? Any dates?” Changmin pressed.

“Well,” the man said, that worrying glint entering his eyes again, “I did see a woman the other day in passing. We didn’t really talk much, but I think I’d like to get to know her better. I think I could marry her one day.” Changmin blanched.

“That sounds promising,” Changmin said, attempting to keep his voice steady, “You should probably slow down a bit though.”

“What? Why?” Woobin asked, tone defensive.

“Well, people don’t usually like when someone comes on too strong, you know?” Changmin said, aiming for a reasonable yet soothing tone. “If you start talking about marriage right off the bat, that’d probably overwhelm her.”

Woobin frowned, “You have a point.”

“I do,” Changmin said. “Why not just get to know her first? Maybe ask her to coffee.”

“Coffee…” Woobin repeated, “That sounds nice.”

“Right? I don’t want you to commit too fast. It’s not very fair to her or yourself to try and rush into something with someone you hardly know.”

Woobin nodded slowly. Changmin was internally grateful that the man had been written as a thoughtful character instead of a stubborn one (while also being a bit sad that such a good character trait was becoming increasingly scarce in male leads). “You’re right, Changmin. I don’t know what I was thinking. Rushing into marriage… that’s not like me at all!” He laughed and Changmin tried not to wince.

‘I’m so sorry, man,’ he thought. ‘It’s not your fault, it’s mine.’

“But yes, coffee. I’m sure I can ask her to that,” Woobin said.

“Let me know how it goes, okay?” Changmin said.

“Of course!”

Changmin got up from his stool with a sigh of relief and a final wave to Woobin before exiting the Simulation room. When he looked through the large window it appeared that Woobin’s story was back on track for the original RomCom it was intended to be. Changmin legs wobbled as the tension left his body all at once. He took a moment to lean against the wall and watch the Story unfold.

The scene changed and Woobin was now rushing around his apartment trying to figure out to wear for his date after his cat had decided to knock over his coffee onto his freshly pressed shirt. A bit cliche, but Changmin still winced in sympathy. The man was a bit unlucky, and that theme continued throughout the entire story.

“Fighting,” he whispered at the glass as he watched the male lead throw shirt after shirt out of his closet in despair.

The phone on his belt beeped, breaking his attention from Woobin’s dilemma. Changmin pulled the phone off its holder to see that he was running behind schedule and he still had a good amount of Plot Elements to deliver before his lunch break. Changmin sighed and hiked his carrier bag up on his shoulder before scurrying off down the corridor. One disaster avoided, a million more opportunities to mess up remained.

* * *

Chanhee was tired, and he was sick of pretending that he wasn’t. He tossed and turned on his straw mattress as his companions snored on, blissfully unaware, in the tiny inn room. He wasn’t tired in the literal sense (if anything he had trouble sleeping), but he was exhausted of being the Chosen One destined, to save the magical and mortal realms. He never asked for that, and he wished everyone around him stopped expecting him to give more than he could offer.

After a few more minutes of fidgeting Chanhee gave up on sleep and dressed quietly, grabbing his bag set near the door to head outside. Thankfully, the rest of his party were all pretty deep sleepers and clearly so exhausted from their journey that they didn’t even budge when Chanhee left. He didn’t intend to go far, but he needed some fresh air away from people that somehow both fawned all over him and yet still treated him more like an object than a person.

The air outside was cool on his skin, and Chanhee briefly enjoyed the chill. However, once the cold started setting in, he summoned a ball of fire in his hand to keep the night wind at bay. He stared up at the stars twinkling overhead brightly but distantly. He wished he could fly all the way up into the sky and travel somewhere, anywhere else. Why him? Why did _he_ have to deal with all these expectations?

“I don’t want this,” Chanhee whispered, feeling tears well up in his eyes. “I don’t want any of this. I hate this. I wish I could’ve been born anyone else.”

The stars didn’t respond.

He sat down on the grass, fire still carefully cupped in his palm, before lowering his gaze from the stars to the forest in the distance. It probably wasn’t too smart to be outside so late at night, but Chanhee wasn’t worried. He was the Chosen One, he thought sarcastically, with Unimaginable Magical Power. He’d be able to defeat anything the world could throw at him. It was his destiny, right?

Guilt began to set in. There were probably hundreds, if not thousands of other people who would love to be him. He should be grateful to have such an incredible destiny. He should be honored that so many people were willing to help him. He should be happy to be blessed with such immense magic power. He should be so many things, and yet Chanhee couldn’t help feeling like a fraud. He didn’t deserve such power or adoration since he couldn’t appreciate it. What on earth was wrong with him that even when he was given everything a person could ever want, he just ended up wanting to be someone else?

Chanhee sighed. He didn’t know how long he sat there, only that eventually the sky began to incrementally lighten. The sun would be rising soon, along with his companions. He should be getting back to their room. They’d planned to leave early that morning to journey to the next town over. They’d be mad if Chanhee held them up, Chosen One or not.

Chanhee extinguished the ball of fire with a flick of his wrist, stood up and dusted his pants off. He turned to start heading back at the inn, when a prick of light caught his eye. There, on a tree a hundred feet away, was a glowing light. Chanhee blinked and rubbed at his eyes, but the shimmering light remained. He squinted at the light. It appeared to be rectangular, tall and wide enough to resemble a doorway.

Should he…? No. He had responsibilities. He had to get back to the others. He had a destiny that he couldn’t afford to be distracted from. But… Chanhee bit his lip. It wouldn’t hurt to just investigate a little, right? What if this was important? What if it was a clue to save the realms or whatever his companions were endlessly going on about?

Chanhee took a hesitant step forward toward the light. Then another and another and soon enough he was staring right into the doorway set in the bark of the tree. Closer now, he could see it led into some kind of building that seemed much larger than the tree. He saw a corridor lined with clean, white tiles and white walls broken up by large glass windows, more polished looking than any temple or government building Chanhee had seen before.

It… it couldn’t hurt to just go in and take a look around.

Chanhee walked forward through the doorway, and his eyes darted around in amazement, not knowing what to focus on first. The ceiling was high overhead and held unfamiliar fixtures that gave off light seemingly without any fire. The floor was cleaner than any floor he’d ever stepped on, and polished spotlessly. He felt a bit bad for the dirty footprints he was tracking in, and magicked his boots clean as best he could. The walls were painted a pure white, brighter than any of the dull shades he’d become used to. They almost hurt to look at under the bright overhead lights, so Chanhee averted his gaze to the windows.

When he looked through one of the glass windows that lined the corridor, he could see what looked like a raging typhoon just inside. He yelped and instinctively ducked and took cover. However, after nothing happened for a few minutes, he peeked back over the edge of the window once again. His jaw dropped in wonder.

The typhoon was still there, but it was soundless and didn’t appear to be affecting the window at all. He could see a tiny ship being tossed around the waves. Lightning crashed around the borders of the room, but never appeared to touch or even get close to the glass he was looking through. Chanhee recalled a moment from when he was younger when his grandfather had swirled water around in a glass bottle and called it a hurricane. It had been similarly quiet and contained, beautiful in a way.

Like a story he would never be part of.

Chanhee excitedly turned to look through the window on the other side of the hall. That room held a shimmering white unicorn standing on an open field, and he gasped. He’d thought that unicorns were supposed to be fictional, stories to entertain children, but there one stood right in front of him! It made no motion of acknowledgement as Chanhee plastered himself against the glass, breath fogging the image slightly. He watched a girl appear, seemingly out of nowhere, who walked up to the unicorn and began to stroke its neck. The girl took no notice of Chanhee either.

He heartbeat quickened as he stepped back from the window and looked down the long hallway at the lines of windows, each with their own unique scenes in them. He could see a sandy beach, an underwater palace, a griffin soaring through the skies with its beak open in a silent screech. What was this place? Was he still in his world? Was this another realm that he’d stumbled into? Was Chanhee really meant to be here?

The Chosen One looked back to the door he came through that led to the only world he had ever known. He could see the inn in the distance. The sun was starting to rise at this point, and an oil lamp flickered into existence in one of the inn’s windows. He could go back and pretend like nothing happened. He could assume his role once more and become the savior of the realms that everyone expected him to be. He could just forget that he’d seen this place with its countless windows into different worlds but…

But…

Chanhee slammed the door home closed with a sense of finality before setting off down the hallway, smudging window after window with his fingerprints as he hurried to find something he’d never seen before.

* * *

“Ohhhh, that’s not good,” Juyeon muttered, looking into room F728.

“What’s not good?” Jacob asked, looking up from his work phone.

“Look,” Juyeon said, motioning toward the window of F728’s Simulation room. The sky in the Simulation had turned an alarming, angry red with forks of lightning streaking across the sky. Harsh winds lashed at all the buildings in the tiny town and the waves of the ocean crashed at the shore angrily as if trying to drag the whole world down into the depths.

Jacob’s eyebrows shot up as he unlatched and consulted his clipboard. “I thought that was supposed to be an Epic Quest,” he said.

“It was,” Juyeon said, “Standard Hero’s Journey.”

Jacob skimmed the Story notes and snorted. “The main character was a bit of a Mary Sue, huh. Chosen One with abnormally powerful magic, giant cast of characters who basically worship him, typical romance formula… what went so wrong?”

“I think he’s gone,” Juyeon said, squinting at the scene.

“Wait, what?” Jacob asked, dropping his clipboard back to his belt, “What do you mean ‘gone’?”

“Just… gone,” Juyeon gestured expansively at the scene. “I don’t see him anywhere.”

Jacob got close enough to nearly press his face against the glass. No matter where he looked he couldn’t find the Chosen One, which should’ve been fairly easy given that the guy was supposed to have bright pink hair. “Oh shit,” Jacob said, pulling his walkie talkie off his belt, “We’ve got a Jumper.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sangyeon: You know what, we might be able to make this plot work. There are plenty of people who want to date monsters, right?  
> Sangyeon: [snapping his fingers] Make the monster taller and give it the ability to feel love!


	2. Run-On Sentences

“Okay, let’s think,” Jacob said, trying to outwardly project a calm, reassuring front when in reality he was screaming inside his head that both he and Juyeon were going to end up fired and then he’d be unable to afford his current skin care routine (and also rent, but more importantly the skin care routine because why on _earth_ were face masks so expensive when they were only one time use and-)

“Should we call Sangyeon?” Juyeon asked, interrupting Jacob’s inner turmoil.

“No!” Jacob hissed almost as soon as the sentence was out of Juyeon’s mouth, “We’d be in huge trouble if he found out! We’d probably get fired!”

“But protocol states that a supervisor should be alerted should any Story elements manage to escape their simulators,” Juyeon said with a frown. “I’m pretty sure he wouldn’t fire us since we weren’t the ones to leave the door open in the first place.”

“No, but we were patrolling the area! Look, if we can just find him quickly without anyone knowing, that’d be best,” Jacob said, “Not only because we’d avoid trouble, but also because everyone else is busy right now and by the time anyone managed to get down here that Chosen One could be anywhere in the building. We have to start looking for him now, and if we can’t find him after an hour or so we can radio for backup. Okay?”

Juyeon looked a bit conflicted, but eventually nodded, “Okay. One hour.” They set off down the long corridors, looking left and right for any sign of pink hair or wayward spells.

“Hopefully he won’t have gotten too far,” Jacob said, squinting down a hallway full of magic schools that had started spawning with alarming regularity. “Now, if I were an incredibly overpowered, yet emotionally stunted protagonist, where would I go?”

“I’d go somewhere with cool monsters,” Juyeon said.

“He’s probably had his fill of monsters,” Jacob said, “What about High Seas novels? Buried treasure and mermaids and all that stuff? It’s not too far from here.”

“It’s as good an option as any,” Juyeon said with a shrug.

“Alright, let’s head there first.” He grimaced as he remembered the rapid rate at which room F728 was devolving. “We should hurry.” They picked up their walking pace.

* * *

“Kevin!”

Kevin Moon’s head shot up at the sound of his supervisor calling his name. He stood abruptly from his chair and saw the older woman approaching him from over the top of his cubicle walls. In her hand was a stack of papers. Her expression was as unreadable and strict as usual though her posture was relaxed. Kevin felt some of the tension leave his body at that, briefly glad that she didn’t appear to be in any worse a mood than usual.

“Yes, ma’am?” he replied.

She stopped in the entryway to his cube, brandishing the papers. Kevin recognized them as printouts of the cover sketches he’d done earlier for a Sci-Fi title. “I’ve been discussing these designs with the Head of the Sci-Fi department, and he was very impressed,” she said.

Kevin tried not to look too obviously pleased, but allowed himself a smile. “I’m glad.”

“We’ve decided to move forward with your second proposal,” she pulled out a piece of paper that had a very simple sketch Kevin had done of the main spaceship’s interior with muted lighting and a moody gray and blue color palette. The title and author were layered over it in bold text. “To finish this I believe you’ll have to travel down to the work floor.”

Kevin’s eyebrows shot up. He’d only been to the underground levels where all the Stories were developed and tested a handful of times before, once on his orientation tour and a couple of other times since when he was on his annual required workplace training sessions. He’d never really gotten a good look at the scale of the work floor since he was usually trapped up on the second floor, and there was no good reason for anyone from the Marketing department to travel downstairs. In addition, it was actively discouraged to visit the area on breaks as it could disrupt the fast paced environment and potentially lead to severe Story plot holes, at least that was the reason that the Head of Story Testing and Development always gave for scolding curious employees.

“You want me to see the Story?” Kevin asked. They usually just gave him a synopsis along with a few photographs of main characters and general settings to base his designs on. Kevin couldn’t help the flash of excitement that coursed through him at the opportunity to monitor a Story up close while it was in progress.

“Indeed. The cover of this Story is fairly intricate, and I believe you would benefit from getting to see it in person. You are scheduled for a two hour long pass to the Science Fiction department at two o’clock. I don’t believe you have any meetings then, correct?”

“No ma’am, I don’t,” Kevin said, mentally reviewing his calendar.

“Good,” she said briskly, handing the sketch over to Kevin. “Make sure you take good photos and notes. Getting even this much time in one of the Simulations was difficult, you know how protective these department heads get over their sections.”

“Of course,” Kevin hurried to say, “Uh, thank you, ma’am.”

She hummed. “Make sure you’re well prepared before you set out. Do you need me to ask anyone to guide you there?”

“Oh, no,” Kevin said, “I remember from my last training where the Sci-Fi section is. I’ll be there in plenty of time.” He hoped that she couldn’t tell he was lying through his teeth. In all honesty, he probably should have just admitted that he had no idea where the section was, but he didn’t want to appear incompetent in front of his supervisor and he was pretty sure he could figure it out on his own if it came down to it. He definitely remembered all the sections being clearly labeled during his last tour, so how hard could it be?

“If you are sure,” she said with one final nod, thankfully oblivious to Kevin’s bluffing, “Keep up the good work, Kevin. If this cover is well received there might be a few more exciting jobs in your future.” And with that she turned on heel and strode back to her office.

Kevin collapsed into his desk chair, letting out a slow breath. This could be an opportunity for him to get a raise or a promotion, or at least some more interesting work than his usual job of illustrating covers for gardening manuals. Kevin had nothing against people who enjoyed gardening, but he could only draw a carrot so many times before he began developing an odd grudge against the vegetable.

He suddenly sat bolt upright. “Shit,” he muttered under his breath, rolling his chair up to his computer. He glanced at the clock to see he only had an hour before he was expected down on the work floor and he needed to look up a workplace map to figure out where the Sci-Fi section was.

“Okay, okay, okay, I got this,” Kevin muttered to himself, taking a picture of the map with his phone. It looked straightforward enough to get to and hey, Kevin was an adult. Surely he could handle finding a department on his own. After twenty minutes of consulting the map, Kevin reasoned he should probably leave early on the chance that he did get lost and need to ask for directions.

With a million thoughts rushing through his mind, both about finding his destination and what details of the ship he needed to make specific notes on, Kevin gathered up his sketch books, pencils, and a digital tablet and shoved everything into his work bag. He barely remembered to grab his employee ID lanyard on the way out of his cube before he was rushing to the elevator bay and hitting the button for the underground floors.

Despite his hurry, Kevin couldn’t help but be a little excited to see all the Simulations on the work floor again. From his brief skimming of the map, he knew that he’d have to pass the Fantasy and Supernatural sections on his way to the Sci-Fi department. Hopefully he’d left early enough that he’d have some extra time to peek down those hallways as well. Even though they were different genres than what he was meant to be drawing for, perhaps he’d manage to find something inspiring along the way for future designs.

* * *

Chanhee had only been in this strange new world for a few hours, and yet he felt exhausted. It was likely that his tiredness was brought about by just the sheer scale of trying to process all the incredible things he’d seen. In a short time frame he’d watched what looked like sailing ships soar across the skies, jungles with trees five times taller than anything he’d ever seen, and frozen temples with guardians made of snow and ice. And that was just in the first hallway he’d walked down.

Since then, Chanhee had been down dozens of hallways. He ducked out of sight when he caught a glimpse of what might be another person in the corridor, but they always rushed past him, seemingly busy with whatever task they’d been in the middle of. Chanhee supposed he shouldn’t be that worried about encountering another person with his whole Chosen One powers, but part of him was concerned that perhaps in this place he wasn’t quite as special as he’d originally thought.

Sure, he was still able to summon his magic (he’d conjured a fireball as soon as he’d had the thought to test it out), but he’d seen so many fantastical things that he wondered if he was really that important at all next to so many unbelievable places and creatures. In a way the thought was comforting. All his life he’d been told that he was Chosen and special with power unlike anything the world had ever seen. Here he was just… another special thing amongst a veritable plethora of special things.

‘Maybe,’ Chanhee thought, ‘I can finally just be another person.I don’t have to be special.’ The idea was liberating.

It was with a skip in his step that he turned down a long corridor that was considerably darker then the other corridors he’d been traveling through. He’d become so used to looking through the window and seeing beautiful magical beasts or magnificent locations, that it was jarring to look through a window and see only what appeared to be a blank void of space. Chanhee stuttered to a stop in front of the window, gaping at the planets and stars that swirled past him. It felt like he could just reach a hand out and drag his fingertips through a galaxy, though he hesitated to actually open the door to the room.

When he looked to the next window eagerly, he nearly stumbled back in fear. A near indescribable creature sat inside. Its skin was a shiny black and it walked on six legs with gangly limbs ending in large, curved claws. It was resembled a large bug in some ways, but its head was distinctly more canine in nature with a dripping muzzle full of teeth. It didn’t have any eyes from what Chanhee could see, but also seemed to navigate the dimly lit corridor it was in with ease, head swaying back and forth as if trying to pick up something’s scent.

It was so completely different from any creature Chanhee had seen or even imagined before that he was struck with a sense of revulsion. What _was_ that thing? What twisted god could create something so repulsive and terrifying? The creature’s ears perked up as if it caught the sound of something it had been hunting. He shuddered as the creature began to move faster, hunting something Chanhee couldn’t see. Chanhee didn’t realize that every muscle in his body had tensed involuntarily until the creature had disappeared from sight.

“Gods above,” Chanhee muttered, pressing a hand to his chest. He’d be certain to avoid that particular room in the future.

It was with this sense of unease that he continued down the hallway, half worried he might spot another one of those creatures in a window or, gods forbid, something even more terrifying. Luckily, most of what he saw was simply more expanses of space with odd flying vehicles in them, and not any more of those bizarre creatures. Granted, there were a few more unnatural looking monsters, but nothing as gruesome as the first unknown creature.

Chanhee was in the middle of watching a window where what appeared to be a man made from metal was touching a glowing tablet, when a scene from the other side of the hallway caught his eye. He spun to see a battle raging in one of the rooms, dozens of people in heavy looking protective clothing were running around a large area crowded with all number of metal containers and vehicles. Some were holding weapons that fired beams of light across the room with a velocity Chanhee could barely track.

They didn’t appear to be using any magic that Chanhee was familiar with, as all the beams came out of their weapons, but that didn’t make the attacks any less dangerous. He gasped as one of the room’s occupants caught a bolt in the chest and flew ten feet backward from the impact, crashing into a metal container and denting it heavily. They didn’t move to get up afterwards, and there was little doubt in Chanhee’s mind about how deadly the beams were.

He watched the scene with a sort of transfixed horror for a few minutes, wondering who these groups of people were. One side was clearly outfitted in white armor and the other in black. Though he had no idea of either side’s motivations for engaging in such a fight, Chanhee couldn’t help but feel sympathy for the black clad side who were clearly outnumbered and quickly losing what little ground and soldiers they had.

Chanhee tensed as he watched one of the black clad soldiers catch a beam in the leg, immediately sending him sprawling behind a stack of crates. The fall knocked the man’s helmet off and Chanhee could see that the man was young, probably around Chanhee’s age if not younger, and in that moment Chanhee made a decision.

He rushed to the room’s door and yanked it open. Chanhee almost immediately regretted his decision as his ears were instantly assaulted by the screeches the beams of light made as they flew overhead, along with a cacophony of screams from both sides of the field. He clapped his hands to his ears and squeezed his eyes shut as he tried to block out the sensory overload. He almost turned and ran back out the door, but once he managed to open his eyes he saw the man from earlier laying less than a hundred feet from where he stood. Chanhee gathered his nerves and steeled himself enough to move forward.

The man was clutching at his leg. When he noticed Chanhee approaching him, he raised his weapon and aimed it at Chanhee, but the movement jolted the man’s leg and he dropped his weapon with a hiss of pain. Chanhee walked toward him slowly, palms raised in surrender.

“I’m not going to hurt you!” Chanhee yelled over the din of the battle around them. “I’m here to help!”

The man’s brow furrowed, and Chanhee briefly wondered if they even spoke the same language, but the man just swiped a hand at him. “Get out of here!” he yelled, “You need to retreat!”

Chanhee stubbornly ignored the man’s words and motions and continued walking forward despite the man’s repeated protests. “I’m here to help,” he repeated once he was close enough to the man not to yell.

Now able to see the man’s wound clearly, Chanhee couldn’t help but wince at how serious the wound appeared to be. The blast had clearly scorched the man’s flesh along with punching a sizable hole in his leg. It thankfully hadn’t gone all the way to the bone, but Chanhee had no doubt that if the man managed to survive this battle without bleeding out that he wouldn’t be able to fully use that leg again.

“We don’t have time for a med kit!” the man said impatiently, though Chanhee had no idea what a ‘med kit’ was. “Just leave me and make sure the rest of the squad gets out!” He grimaced in pain again, “Damn it, the intel we got must have been faulty. This base is swarming with Standards!”

“I don’t know what that means,” Chanhee said, “I’m just trying to get you out of here.”

“Didn’t you hear me?” the man said, “We don’t have time for-!” He cut off abruptly as the air around Chanhee’s hands began to glow white with his healing magic. He knelt down and moved his hands over the man’s leg, which immediately began to knit back together from all the damage the blast had done. It was at this moment that Chanhee thanked the gods for how ridiculously powerful his magic was. The wound was closed in a matter of seconds rather than the hours it would have taken most healers in his world.

“There,” Chanhee said, straightening back up, “Can you move? We need to get out of here.”

The man gaped at Chanhee. “How did you do that?” he asked, eyes wide with wonder. He reached down to touch his leg and gaped at the newly healed skin. “That’s not possible,” he muttered, almost to himself.

“I don’t have time to explain right now,” Chanhee said, wincing as a beam of light screamed over his head, far too close for comfort. “We have to go.”

The man looked like he wanted to argue, but seemed to realize that Chanhee was right. He clumsily got to his feet, testing his leg warily and seemingly shocked that it actually worked, and grabbed his weapon. He clutched it to his chest as Chanhee nodded. “Follow me!” Chanhee ordered before beginning to run toward the door he’d entered the room through.

The battle was much more intense now. Clearly the opposing side had managed to press closer to where they had been hidden, and Chanhee did his best to dodge stray bolts as the man behind him did the same. A couple of times Chanhee had to deflect a beam with a wall of magic, and each time the man behind him yelped in surprise as the bolt exploded into light against the shields.

“What the hell is going on?” the man muttered, just loud enough that Chanhee managed to hear it. Chanhee barely avoided laughing inappropriately because he was wondering the same thing himself.

‘What am I even doing?’ Chanhee asked, grabbing the man’s arm and tugging him through the door once it was in sight. ‘Why am I helping him?’

He shoved the door closed behind him, and immediately the chaos of the battle was cut off. Chanhee almost staggered at the sudden lack of noise, looking around the corridor in confusion before realizing he was back in the hallway of windows again. Despite the fact that he had just been here, the difference between the the battlefield he’d just exited and the silence of the hallway was jarring.

“Where…” the man panted, startling Chanhee. He’d almost forgotten the other man was there. “Where are we?” The man’s eyes were darting around the corridor warily. Chanhee watched his eyes widen as he took in all the windows where different scenes were playing out.

“I don’t know,” Chanhee answered honestly, “I just stumbled in here earlier myself, but… I think it’s a place where you can view and visit other worlds.”

The man glanced around the hallway windows before he turned around to look at the door they just came through. He pressed a hand to the glass window where the battle they’d just escaped from was still raging. “That’s… I don’t…” he didn’t seem capable of forming complete sentences, which Chanhee understood.

“You’re safe here, if that’s what you’re worried about,” Chanhee said gently. The man turned to stare at him. “The worlds in there don’t seem to be able to open the doors or windows from the inside.”

The man continued to stare at him blankly, trying to process not only Chanhee’s words but the reality that had just opened to him. He dropped his weapon on the ground with a clatter and slowly slid down to sit on the floor, leaning heavily on the wall under the window to his world. He put his head in his hands, and Chanhee politely gave him a few minutes to gather his thoughts.

“Who are you?” the man eventually asked, looking back up at Chanhee.

“My name’s Choi Chanhee,” the Chosen One said, “I’m from a world a few hallways over. Who are you?”

“I’m Ju Haknyeon,” the man said, “And I have so many questions.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chanhee: We're going to get through this with hope, friendship, and that gun of yours.


	3. Contrived Tension

Kevin was trying his best not to gape as he traveled through the halls of the underground floor. He was glad that at least no other employees seemed to be in the area to watch him as he meandered wide-eyed through the corridors like a kid who had wandered into a candy store for the first time. He doubted anyone would really blame him, though. Who wouldn’t be amazed by the windows full of Stories? Well, maybe the employees who were forced to run around here every day, but to anyone else the experience was incredible.

The designer checked his watch to see that he still had twenty minutes before he needed to be in the Sci-Fi section, and according to the map on his phone the area should only be a couple hallways over. He had some time to kill, and Kevin was more than happy to spend it gawking at all the simulation rooms. He held his tablet up to snap a picture of a scene of a dark cavern full of glowing green crystals. A large, black snake dozed inside, curled around one of the gems. Its scales glinted menacingly.

He turned to the other side of the hall to take a few shots of the other scene, which involved a ragtag group of adventurers making their way across a treacherous looking rope bridge. Kevin could practically see the following moments of the plot in his head, the ropes snapping halfway through, or perhaps one of the rickety looking planks would break, causing a party member to nearly plunge to their death. Of course, another member would catch their arm at the last second leading to either a tragic moment of sacrifice, or a triumphant example of teamwork. Either way, it would lead to good character development.

Kevin continued forward, taking pictures here and there of any Stories that caught his eye. He was dying to flip open his sketchbook to make some quick drawings, but he didn’t have much more time before he needed to head toward his actual assignment. He tried not to feel too sad as he stowed his tablet away when he finally checked his watch and saw that he couldn’t delay his departure any longer.

He was just turning to set off down the corridor, when a scene at the end of the hallway caught his attention. Kevin paused as he took in the scene, so different from the other fantasy settings he’s seen in that corridor. The Story inside the room looked akin to plot of a Disaster novel, with a torrential downpour of rain lashing at a tiny village. The sky was alive, and it was furious. Streaks of lightning flashed violently across the black clouds. He shuddered as he watched it, feeling a sense wrongness the longer he viewed it. He wasn’t sure how that particular Story was going to end, but it looked like something he definitely didn’t want to be a part of.

* * *

Jacob sighed as the second hand on his watch slowly ticked over the one hour mark. He and Juyeon had officially run over the time limit he’d set, and they hadn’t seen any sign of the wayward Story Jumper. He ran a hand through his hair in frustration. “Alright,” he said, looking to Juyeon, “Let’s call it.”

“Finally,” Juyeon said, pulling his radio off his belt. “Hey, Sangyeon?” There was a beat of static.

“Yeah, what’s up?” Sangyeon’s voice crackled down the line.

“Jacob and I are in the Fantasy department, and we’ve had an incident.”

“I don’t like the sound of that. What’s wrong?”

“We’ve got a Jumper.” There was another pause. Jacob and Juyeon grimaced at each other, dreading their boss’ reaction.

“Fuck,” Sangyeon finally said, summing up their situation accurately.

“Yeah,” Juyeon said.

“Okay, hang on. I’m heading down to Fantasy. What section are you in?”

Jacob glanced up at the room numbers. “Two hundred and fifties.”

“Two hundred and fifties,” Juyeon reported into the radio.  
“Stay there, I’ll be down with some help soon.” The radio cut out with another crackle of static, and the two of them were alone again.

“I was really hoping it wouldn’t come to this,” Jacob said.

“It’s probably for the best,” Juyeon said, “After all, we _are_ dealing with a Chosen One. Who knows what kind of chaos he could cause if he spends too much longer in here. He could open a Story about… I don’t know, dinosaurs or something. Or worse, he could make it to the horror section.” Both of them shuddered at the thought of anything getting loose from that particular department.

“We should probably radio Younghoon too,” Jacob said as an afterthought, “He might have some magic dampeners from R&D, which could help us prevent that Chosen One from doing any more damage.”

“Good idea,” Juyeon said, lifting his radio once more. “Hey, Younghoon?” They waited a minute.

“Hey, Juyeon,” Younghoon replied.

“Do you think you can bring some magic dampeners to the Fantasy department? We got a Jumper with some nasty magic powers.”

“You got it, bro,” Younghoon said, “I just gotta finish putting the Chekhov’s guns away. Why do people keep ordering these if they aren’t gonna fire them?”

“I don’t know,” Juyeon replied, “Bad writing, I guess.”

“Pain in the ass is what it is,” Younghoon said, “Anyway, I can grab Eric and be there in like twenty minutes. Fantasy department you said?”

“Yeah, the two fifties.”

“Cool. See you soon.”

“I think we’re good then,” Juyeon said, hooking his radio back on his belt and leaning against one of the walls. “Nothing left to do but wait.”

“You’re right,” Jacob said, though his stomach was still roiling with stress . With every passing second his brain conjured up more and more alarming scenarios of what the Chosen One might be getting up to unattended, most of which would likely end with his and Juyeon’s unemployment. Though he knew it wasn’t particularly helpful or productive to be focusing on these things, waiting around had left him with only these to dwell on.

“Hey,” Juyeon said, getting Jacob’s attention, “We’ll figure it out. Don’t worry, it can't be any worse than that time Eric accidentally flooded the Natural Disasters section after opening the door to the tsunami Story by mistake.

* * *

After Chanhee had recounted the relatively short time he’d spent walking around the hallways and looking through all the windows after leaving his own room to Haknyeon, the other was still confused by their current predicament. Chanhee could hardly blame him as the Chosen One was still coming to terms with the whole thing himself. He was no closer to finding out what this place was or who had created it.

“You said that you’ve seen people walking around who look like they work here, right?” Haknyeon finally said.

“Yeah,” Chanhee confirmed, “They’re all wearing some kind of badge from what I’ve seen, and they have all these tools on their belts. I’ve only seen them from a distance, though.”

Haknyeon nodded. “I hate to say it, but speaking to them might be the best chance we have to find out where we are.”

Part of Chanhee was protesting at the thought of doing so. He was wary of anyone who decided work at the kind of place where things like the horrible creature he’d seen earlier was contained. In addition he was worried that if he or Haknyeon were caught that they’d be forced back into their original rooms, and this place would be sealed off from them forever. Though Chanhee had felt a twinge of guilt for leaving his place behind, he had no desire to return to his role as the Chosen One and have the weight of that responsibility heaped onto his shoulders once more.

Haknyeon apparently noticed Chanhee’s hesitation. “Hey, don’t worry. I’m sure we can defend ourselves if it comes to it. You have your… magic whatever, and I have this gun.” He hefted his weapon (he’d explained it was called a ‘laser cannon’, though Chanhee wasn’t certain what a laser was).

“I guess you’re right,” Chanhee said. Haknyeon’s confidence was reassuring, and he was probably right in saying that the two of them could handle whatever the employees here were like. Chanhee wasn’t the most powerful mage in centuries for nothing. “Let’s go try and find one then.”

Unfortunately that was easier said than done. The more they traveled through the hallways, the more the two of them realized just how expansive the facility was. The windows and corridors seemed to stretch on forever in every direction. The white walls, large windows, and blinding overhead lights all started blurring together in Chanhee’s head, and he could feel a headache building behind his eyeballs. He rubbed his temples uselessly.

“This is ridiculous!” he finally exclaimed, throwing his hands up after nearly a half hour of walking. The two of them had decided to take a brief break outside a hallway with a large sign over the entrance that read ‘Religion’. The entrance to that hallway was sealed with a heavy steel door. Chanhee wasn’t quite sure what might be inside that area, but he really didn’t want to risk adding anything blasphemous on top of everything else they were already dealing with.

“It’s a lot bigger than I expected,” Haknyeon agreed. “Maybe we should just wait in one place and eventually someone will pass us by.” Chanhee was inclined to agree if only because it would give his feet a break, when a sudden voice startled the two of them.

“What are you two doing here?”

Both of them whipped around, Chanhee immediately summoning a ball of flames into his hand while Haknyeon leveled his gun at the newcomer. The man who had spoken yelped and threw his hands up in surrender. He looked fairly young now that Chanhee could get a good view of him. His hair was a orangey-peach color and he was wearing a badge that Chanhee recognized. Clearly this was a worker at this facility.

“Don’t shoot!” the man screamed.

“Who are you?” Haknyeon said.

“I’m Changmin!” the man said, eyes darting nervously between Chanhee and Haknyeon, “I-I’m guessing you two aren’t new interns?”

“What?” Chanhee asked.

“Not exactly,” Haknyeon said.

“Okay!” Changmin said, nodding furiously, “Good, great, glad we confirmed that! I’m just gonna go then.” He started backing away nervously.

“Wait,” Haknyeon ordered. The man stuttered to a stop. “We have some questions for you.”

Changmin visibly gulped. “Oh, well I’m not that high up on the chain here so you may have to find my supervisor instead if you have questions. I haven’t seen him in a while but-“

“No, we’ll be asking you,” Haknyeon said. He elbowed Chanhee in the ribs.

“What?” Chanhee asked. Haknyeon raised an eyebrow at the fireball in Chanhee’s hand meaningfully. “Oh. Oh!” Chanhee focused and the fireball grew in size, large enough that both Haknyeon and Chanhee started sweating from the proximity.

Changmin’s jaw clamped shut mid-excuse.

“That’s right, we’ll be asking you,” Chanhee said, trying his best to sound threatening. Judging by Haknyeon’s skeptical gaze it probably needed some work, but Changmin didn’t seem like he was going to be arguing anytime soon so Chanhee counted it as a win.

“Now,” Haknyeon said, turning his eyes on the employee, “Tell us where we are.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Eric: Why are you taking one of the Chekhov's guns with you?  
> Younghoon: I don't know, I just feel like we might need it later.


End file.
